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| MadMax | Posted
on 25-Feb-04 06:59 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/02/24/pakistan.alqaeda/index.html ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani military forces, using helicopters and heavy artillery, have detained at least 25 people during raids in a remote border region where al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar are believed to have sought refuge. It is not clear if any senior Taliban or al Qaeda figures were apprehended, though foreigners were arrested and weapons, ammunition, passports, documents seized, Pakistani military officials said. The sweep followed a warning to tribal leaders to hand over foreign suspects reportedly in the South Waziristan region near the border with Afghanistan. The operation was launched after tribal authorities didn't give up the suspects, the officials said. "This seizure confirms that foreign elements were given shelter by some tribesmen," Pakistan Army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press. The operation began after dawn on Tuesday with helicopter gunships sweeping to the village of Zarkai. Other villages including Kaloosha and Azam Warsak were also under siege. House-to-house searches were conducted and when local leaders failed to hand over suspects, troops fired artillery and leveled three compounds where fugitives were allegedly hiding, AP reported. Islamabad -- which has stepped up efforts to deal with al Qaeda and Taliban elements in its largely lawless tribal regions -- had set a February 20 deadline for elders to hand over fugitives and their supporters. Ahead of the operation, at least 32 wanted people had been turned over to authorities, with at least 40 others still at large, government sources told CNN. No U.S. forces were involved in Tuesday's operation, Pakistani military officials said, but the Pakistani maneuver could be designed to force the suspects to flee into Afghanistan where the United States leads a 11,000-strong military force and is actively pursuing bin Laden and other al Qaeda or Taliban forces. The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno, said last week U.S. and Pakistani forces are operating on each side of the border in hopes of producing "a hammer-and-anvil approach" in which Pakistan would drive al Qaeda fighters toward U.S. and Afghan forces across the frontier. Barno said Pakistan's recent clampdown along its border with Afghanistan could help crush the al Qaeda terrorist network. The hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden remains a "very, very high priority" for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, he added. U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan reportedly are planning a spring offensive against the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters remaining in Afghanistan. Bin Laden and Omar are believed to have taken refuge in the mountainous tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan. The Taliban religious militia ruled much of Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until a coalition of U.S. and allied forces drove them from power in November 2001. The Taliban had given haven to al Qaeda before the attacks of September 11, 2001, on New York and Washington. -- CNN Producer Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this story. |